Easington Sports are please to announce that they have achieved the FA Charter Standard Club Status. This was notified to them in a e-mail received today from the Football Association and is effective from 25th March 2008.

Easington Sports previously held the FA Charter Standard Adult Status. This latest upgrade now includes all of the youth section of the club and is a result of some months of hard work under the leadership of Chairman, Steve Hill and project managed by Club Welfare Officer, John Ginger. 

For the third year running, parents, brothers and sisters accompanied the players of Easington Sports Under 13's to support them in the International 'Easter Open' in Holland over two days during last weekend. 

Competing in the under 13 ‘A’ level section they won two and lost one match on Saturday, and managed to qualify as one of the top eight sides, with the chance to play for the title on Easter Sunday. 

On Sunday the eight sides were split into two groups of four, each group of four playing each other in a round robin format. They lost their first game, won the second, which meant they had to win the final game by two clear goals to progress to the final.

Playing a very strong Dutch side vvCSW, Easington, with only eleven fit players, played fantastically and were winning 1 -0 with only two minutes remaining, when the referee gave a very dubious free kick to CSW on the edge of Easingtons penalty area. The resulting shot found the bottom corner and it was CSW who went though to the final, and not Easington. 

Manager Paul Dowers expressed how proud he was of all the players, not only for footballing ability and sporting behaviour, but also their conduct over the whole four days. They certainly are a credit to Easington Sports Football Club.  

MK Dons have signed three players from Easington Sports under 13’s. 

In November, Striker Josh Bowden, Midfielder Sam Ginger and Goalkeeper Matthew Goode were given the opportunity of a six week trial, their hard work and efforts paid off and all three were offered a contract and duly signed on. The boys have faced tough opposition against Aston Villa, Coventry City , Birmingham City and Nottingham Forest academy sides. 

The boys will miss playing with their friends and would like to thank  the coaches, parents and their team mates for all their support and encouragement whilst playing together at Easington Sports, namely Nick Martin, Tony Harvey, Paul Dowers and Frank Ginger. 

The boys wish the under 13's every success in their efforts to win the league this season.

Left to Right - Josh Bowden, Matthew Goode and Sam Ginger in MK Dons colours

Please note below the latest fixture amendments for January

Saturday 12th January - Hellenic League Division One West

Old Woodstock Town vs Easington Sports

Saturday 19th January - Hellenic League Division One West

Clanfield vs Easington Sports

Saturday 12th January - Hellenic League Reserve Division Two West

Easington Sports Reserves vs Old Woodstock Town Reserves

Easington Sports FC manager, Ronnie Johnson, had mixed emotions after their unbeaten Christmas programme of games brought five points from nine. "To be honest when you are doing well you tend to get greedy and I certainly would have liked a couple of extra points in our quest for a promotion place at the end of the season. Our victory at home to Trowbridge was both exciting and indeed crucial with the game won in the first thirty minutes. The Banbury United game was somewhat of a fiasco on our part where I think the Christmas Indulgences had effected some of my players and we gifted them a two goal lead, on the plus side we came back well to grab a point but it was two points lost rather than a point gained. The Pewsey match was an uncompromising encounter against a big and strong outfit with six lads over six foot tall, I think I need to bottle some of the water from the area, but the match was a hard fought game and I thought we stretched them in the second period and with a bit of luck and more clinical finishing we could certainly have won the game". 

"On the player side in recent weeks we have introduced a number of youngsters into the first team squad and on Saturday we had two sixteen year olds and three seventeen year olds in the thirteen man squad, not bad for a side who stands at the top of the table albeit our contenders having games in hand. I really think it is a credit to our youth system and indeed standard that these lads have been able to come through the ranks and put in impressive performances to keep us in contention as of the New Year. On top of that we presently have the Division One West leagues top goalscorer, Ricky Johnson, who is still only 19 years old. In our area we are up against a number of Southern League teams i.e. Banbury United and Brackley Town who pay substantial expenses to attract top players from the locality so our youth policy is paramount to our future advancement.  

Please note below latest fixture amendments for December

Saturday 22nd December - Hellenic League Division One West

Easington Sports vs Trowbridge Town 

Saturday 22nd December - Hellenic League Reserve Division Two West

Hook Norton Reserves vs Easington Sports Reserves

Easington Sports are pleased to advise the purchase of a new tractor and gang mower set to further improve the playing surface at Addison Road.

This was achieved as a result of funding provided by Banbury Charities and Banbury Recreational Charities to whom Easington Sports are extremely grateful.

Steve Hill (Chairman) states "The purchase of this equipment will give us the additional tools needed to enable us to provide Ronnie Johnson and the players the playing surface befitting a side that is top of the Sport Italia Hellenic League Division One West. I would like to express my personal thanks to Banbury Charities and Banbury Recreational Charities for their contribution and to Paul Dowers (Secretary) for his work in completing the application and to Alan Falkner (Equipment Manager) for defining the specification".

 L to R Paul Dowers (Secretary), Steve Hill (Chairman) and Alan Falkner (Equipment Manager) try out the new tractor and gang mower combination

The fixture scheduled for Saturday 20th October away to Oxford Quarry Nomads has been reversed. 

The game will now be at Addison Road with a 3pm Kick-off

Easington Sports are pleased to advise the welcome return of Paul Dewar who was First Team Sports Therapist a couple of seasons ago. Paul takes up his previous position and will give the players an important added facility. 

Paul has already made an impact in converting the caravan on site at Addison Road into a first class treatment room. This gives players a comfortable area in which to receive treatment away from the dressing room.

Steve Hill (Chairman) with Paul Dewar in his treatment room

Easington Sports’ Manager Ronnie Johnson was very pleased to announce this week his line up of signings ahead of his forthcoming pre season fixtures.

“The great thing about our club at the moment is the enthusiastic buzz around the place, everyone is excited by the ongoing development, the sponsorship package, ground improvements, introduction of reserve team which has resulted in a large number of players attending pre season training sessions. I really think that local footballers are aware of our efforts to move forward and it has created a great deal of interest in our club. All the players who finished the season with me last year have re-signed which is a real boost and the inclusion of a number of promising youngsters has set us up for the commencement of the season”.

Alan Robinson, Jacob Goddard, Mike Spaull, Danny Fox and Sean Snelling have joined from Banbury United and a player who Ronnie Johnson has chased for a season James Gibbard joins from local club Adderbury Park. Further youngsters Craig Duckett and Paul Carter have also joined the Sports ranks with a number of last seasons successful Under 16s signing the forms giving the Club a very youthful look!

“To be honest I think we have signed some of the best young players in the area and it is certainly a boost as we prepare for the start of the season!  I am still on the case of a couple of other players but the general development of the squad is looking good, the attitude and effort at our training sessions has been excellent and of course this will need to be ongoing if we wish to push on as serious contenders this season! A number of our senior players were approached by higher level clubs but it is a credit to them and the efforts of our committee and management to assure them that we are pushing forward in an organised and semi professional manner and Easington is the club with a promising and indeed potentially exciting future”.

There will be one major change at Addison Road this season with the decision to separate the team dug outs with one each side of the pitch!  “At times I feel the behaviour in the dugouts is out of order and bordering on anarchy with dissent aimed at the officials at regular intervals. As you can imagine this also at times results in volatile confrontations between the two sets of management and we feel the long distance separation of the dugouts will enhance the atmosphere and lessen the potential of unsavoury incidents. Without doubt the game of football is an emotional rollercoaster with passion and commitment high on the list but I feel it is all persons responsibility that are involved in the game to strive to diminish this aspect of the game. I am proud by the fact that we won the Fair play award for the Hellenic League Division One West last term and it will be our ultimate aim to continue to show this level of discipline”!

Pre-Season Friendly's 

Easington Sports pre season training got off in style on Tuesday evening, 3^rd July 07, with a large turn out from players new and old, who were put through the paces by coach Terry Callow! 

Manager Ronnie Johnson welcomed to the club everyone attending and outlined the set up and ambitions for the season, hoping that the introduction of a reserve side would give added depth to the club and the further opportunity of introducing youth players to the senior teams. “It was great to see many of last season’s squad at our first session but I am very aware that we need a few new faces and the general strengthening of the squad to give us the chance of a push for the top six position” said the optimistic Johnson.